Textbook recalled due to historical inaccuracies

An Ontario publishing company is recalling a children’s educational workbook that critics say misinforms kids about injustices faced by First Nations when European settlers arrived in Canada.

The book — “Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade 3” — has a section called Moving Out that says First Nations peoples agreed to move to different areas to make room for European settlers to move in.

Critics say the text glosses over the history of the country’s Indigenous population, pointing out that First Nations were forced off their land.

The Popular Book Company Canada, based in Richmond Hill, Ont., had initially promised the book would be revised in later editions, but said Tuesday that it would be recalling the edition immediately.

“We know that our Complete Canadian Curriculum Grade 3 does not provide an accurate depiction of the interaction between Canada’s First Nations and European settlers,” it said. “While we cannot undo what has already been published, we are committed to making things better for future editions.”

The company, which said its aim has always been to publish quality workbooks, apologized to First Nations communities, customers, vendors and partners.

“We know that we have to do better and we know that it will take us some time to improve upon this experience,” it said, noting that it would be asking members of First Nations communities for help on how to best write about that part of Canadian history.

But some parents said the mistake shouldn’t have been made in the first place.

Trish Frempong of Toronto said she was planning on purchasing the book for her seven-year-old daughter before she saw an image of the book’s contentious section on social media. She says she went to a nearby bookstore to check the book out for herself and decided against purchasing it.

She said the contentious section shouldn’t have been published, because it “perpetuates one particular narrative, that only serves one group of people, and it is anything but the truth.”

While some parents may find it difficult to talk to their kids about atrocities carried out against Indigenous peoples and other groups that have been marginalized, Frempong said that as a black woman, she has no choice but to educate her daughter.

“We even talked about the history with Indigenous communities in Canada long before this book even was brought to my attention,” Frempong said. “She knows in a nutshell that Indigenous people didn’t give up their land freely, that they were harmed in the process, that violence was bestowed upon them and forced upon them and there’s a ripple effect.”